Dutch pig farmers with TOPIGS sows have gotten bigger litters at slightly lower mortality, according to Dutch pig breeder TOPIGs. 

The results were gleaned from a survey of 942 farms with a total of more than 368,000 sows.

Farmers achieved an average production of 26.36 weaned piglets per year in 2007. Compared with 2006, this is an increase of 0.65 piglets.

The top 25 percent of farms realised an average of 28.52 piglets per sow in 2007.

More farms also reported 30 or more piglets per sow per year: 22 farms reported reaching that figure in 2007, up from just 9 in 2006.

In 2007, 12.75 piglets were born per litter. Compared to 12.47 in 2006, it was an increase of 0.28 piglets per litter.

The preweaning mortality fell slightly from 12.2 percent to 12.1 percent counteracting the widely-held opinion that mortality will rise with increasing litter size.